Sinking feeling

[rblevens]

Last fall, after I made repairs to the bottom- I went ahead and bottom coating the whole bottom.

Since I worry all the time...

Moving forward- how do I know if I am getting water intrusion past the gelcoat and repaired areas when the boat is in the water?

Any way to tell that it is loading up with water?

Rick

 

[Jim Legere]

Last fall, after I made repairs to the bottom- I went ahead and bottom coating the whole bottom.

Since I worry all the time...

Moving forward- how do I know if I am getting water intrusion past the gelcoat and repaired areas when the boat is in the water?

Any way to tell that it is loading up with water?

Rick

Rick,

Probably not worth losing any sleep over. If you made the repairs, its fine. Almost none of the materals used in modern boat building are truly "waterproof" anyway, even when the boat is fresh from the factory. Barrier coat like Interprotect 2000 has aluminum flakes added to act like 'shingles' on a roof...At a microscopic level, gelcoat is semi-porous, fiberglass too, etc. Unless you start to see blisters after next haulout (which I doubt you will), I wouldn't worry. When you get a survey done for insurance, chances are the surveyor will do moisture readings on the hull too. And while you are hauled out...water intrusion into the fiberglass stucture is highly unlikely. These are tough old boats. Now if you had a modern balsa-cored hull, it might be different...